Tragedy "Vengeance" CD
[self-released]
Fuck! Son of a bitch, this band never ceases to amaze me, and this record blows away everything else they've done. And for the last time, I loved His Hero is Gone, but Tragedy is way fucking better than His Hero is Gone ever was, and anyone who denies that fact is too damn afraid to wake up and face the facts. They just keep getting better and better. Each release takes the former and adds even more power to the songwriting, more diversity and uniqueness to the riffing, ups the ante on the sound quality, etc. Everything about this record is intense and heartfelt as hell, straight down to the melodic lead lines, killer vocal arrangements, tight drum fills, and the pointed lyrical content. "Conflicting Ideas" is like two tracks in one, switching up from blazing hardcore/punk to a far darker and more dissonant end after a quick break of silence - quite literally creating the illusion of two separate songs. "Night Falls" is slower and absolutely crushing, the bass meshing perfectly with the guitars and the hard-hitting percussion. "To the Dogs" starts out with some incredible discordant arpeggios (which resurface towards the end) and then blasts into some of the fastest and most straightforward material on the entire disc... you just can't lose. There are also two untitled/unlisted instrumentals, the first of which is a brief piece that revolves mainly around repetitive, slightly rugged clean guitars, while the second is equally repetitive but longer and heavier, with more driving melodies. Considering that this thing was recorded in less than 80 hours it sounds fucking incredible. The drums sound perfect, the bass tone rips and plays a huge role, the guitars are clear but still have a nice rawness to the distortion, and the vocals are fucking totally powerful. Perfect. Fucking perfect. The layout is pretty damn cool. The front cover is black and white, but most everything else is black and red, and aside from a couple of nice images, it's all handwritten text. As always the lyrics are intense and carry a political message wrapped in a veil of personal perspective and emotion, generally dealing with a bitter and rather apocalyptic worldview. "All that remains are the stacks and stacks of radiated corpses. All that remains are the piles upon piles of our excessive debris. All that remains are the skeletons of the once alive... all that remains... serving as monuments to an era of humankind, the error of humankind." Or, "Calling for the laying down of arms, calling for a truce. They must be losing, they must be losing it. To think we'll just pick up our bruised bodies and gather at their feet. No truce, no mercy, no surrender, no rest, no more. This is war. The midnight hour nears and we prepare for attack. No truce, no mercy, no surrender, no rest, no more. This is war." Whew. This is the best fucking hardcore record I've heard in a long time, and I don't see it being topped anytime soon. Get this, and get it now. You won't be sorry. This is an epic fucking masterpiece. (10/10)
Running time - 38:47, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Conflicting Ideas, Night Falls, Revengeance, To the Dogs, and all of the others...]
Tragedy, 2336 N. Killingsworth, Portland, OR 97217

This review has been displayed 13671 times.